Dick Cheney

U.S. Vice President

Born: 30 January 1941

Birthplace: Lincoln, Nebraska

Best known as:

Vice president of the United States, 2001-2009

Name at birth: Richard Bruce Cheney

Dick Cheney was elected vice president of the United States in 2000, as the running mate of George W. Bush, and served in that office from 2001-2009. Dick Cheney grew up in Wyoming, where he also earned his college degrees. A staff member in the administration of Richard Nixon, Cheney then became the White House chief of staff under Gerald Ford. Cheney was elected to the House of Representatives from Wyoming in 1978 and quickly rose in the ranks of the Republican party; he also served as vice chairman of the committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Under President George Bush the elder, Cheney served as Secretary of Defense and played a major role in the Persian Gulf War. Cheney then worked in the oil industry as a top executive for the Halliburton Company before his return to government in 2000. His ties to Halliburton became a source of controversy in 2003, when the company received a major contract to help rebuild Iraq after the U.S. invasion there. Bush and Cheney were re-elected in 2004, narrowly beating a Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards. Dick Cheney did not choose to run for president in 2008. He was succeeded in 2009 by Democratic vice president Joe Biden.

Extra credit:

Dick Cheney's wife, Lynne, served in the Reagan and Bush (the elder) administrations as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities... Dick Cheney has suffered five heart attacks, the first at age 37, and his health issues were much publicized during his vice presidency; the surgical repairs to Cheney's heart have included the placement of a stent originally designed by Segway inventor Dean Kamen. Cheney received a full heart transplant on 23 March 2012... Dick Cheney shot 78-year-old fellow hunter Harry Whittington while on a quail-hunting trip in Texas on 11 February 2006. According to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, "Cheney turned to shoot quail that had just been flushed, accidentally peppering one side of Whittington's body." Whittington was hospitalized but did not seem seriously injured until two days later, when he suffered a minor heart attack reportedly caused by bird shot shifting in his body. He was released from the hospital a few days later.